# ‘Slumdog’ may become English’s millionth word



## Departure Song (Jun 10, 2009)

*‘Slumdog’ may become English’s millionth word*

http://www.hindu.com/2009/06/08/stories/2009060857112000.htm


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## Harlequin (Jun 10, 2009)

*Re: ‘Slumdog’ may become English’s millionth word*

There've been so many articles about "English's millionth word" it's not even funny.


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## Notoriously Unknown (Jun 10, 2009)

*Re: ‘Slumdog’ may become English’s millionth word*

D:
What the heck does "slumdog" even mean?? Couldn't the (suposed) millionth word be something less... Slangish? -.-;;;


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## jibaku (Jun 10, 2009)

*Re: ‘Slumdog’ may become English’s millionth word*



Notoriously Unknown said:


> D:
> What the heck does "slumdog" even mean?? Couldn't the (supposed) millionth word be something less... Slangish? -.-;;;


I agree.  Why does it have to be a word that meant nothing two years ago?


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## goldenquagsire (Jun 10, 2009)

*Re: ‘Slumdog’ may become English’s millionth word*

i've not really heard people use "slumdog" outside of the context of the film, but w/e. it has a nice ring to it.



> What the heck does "slumdog" even mean??


what!

you've never seen Slumdog Millionaire? go watch it now



> Couldn't the (suposed) millionth word be something less... Slangish? -.-;;;


but slang - popular use of invented words - is how new language is formed. durr?



> I agree. Why does it have to be a word that meant nothing two years ago?


that is how *all* *new *words develop. otherwise they wouldn't be *new*.


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## Frosty~ (Jun 10, 2009)

*Re: ‘Slumdog’ may become English’s millionth word*

ONM begs to differ.


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## Vladimir Putin's LJ (Jun 10, 2009)

*Re: ‘Slumdog’ may become English’s millionth word*

It was an okay film but it's not worth creating a new word about imo.
Don't think it deserved the Oscar, really.


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## H-land (Jun 10, 2009)

*Re: ‘Slumdog’ may become English’s millionth word*

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/06/10/million.words/index.html
I see your The Hindi article and raise you one CNN.

I also contribute my favorite line from that article:



> Thomason called the million-word count a "sexy idea" that is "all hype and no substance."


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## Not Meowth (Jun 10, 2009)

*Re: ‘Slumdog’ may become English’s millionth word*

God, even reminding myself that a million is a way huger number than many people realise, I still think a million seems a ridiculously low figure for the total number of English words in existence =/


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## Harlequin (Jun 11, 2009)

*Re: ‘Slumdog’ may become English’s millionth word*

Many languages don't have a million words. English is the language with the most words, afaik.


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## Shiny Grimer (Jun 11, 2009)

*Re: ‘Slumdog’ may become English’s millionth word*



> In the language of native Alaskans, she said, there are dozens of words for snow, but many of them are linked together and wouldn't be counted individually. Does that mean, she asked, that "slush," "powder" and other snow words in English should be counted as one entry?


what
I don't understand this at all.
The situation in Inuktitut and English is completely different.
in Inuktitut, the 'dozen' words for snow are all derived from the same two words: quanik for snow on the ground and aput for falling snow. You put stuff together to make a sentence. Example: iglu (house) + ksak (material) = igluksak (material for building houses). This is technically a new word, but it is derived from other words.
English does not have this. Slush is not sl + ush - it is just slush. Powder is not made from other words. They are seperate words. The comparison with Inuktitut is unwarranted. In Inuktitut, the meanings AND etymologies of the words are linked together; they all come from the same words put together. The meanings in English may be linked together, but the origins of the words are not, and so they count as different words.

I don't know much about Inuktitut, but I'm really interested in this 'THE ESKIMOS HAVE A GAZILLION WORDS FOR SNOW BECAUSE THEY WUB SNOW SO MUCH' thing that seems to be common. It was dissapointing, but expected that they only really have a dozen or so words for snow, especially since they're all just the same two words with modifiers. English has about the same amount.


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## Dewgong (Jun 11, 2009)

*Re: ‘Slumdog’ may become English’s millionth word*

no apparently the word is 'web 2.0' wtf


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## goldenquagsire (Jun 11, 2009)

*Re: ‘Slumdog’ may become English’s millionth word*



> Many languages don't have a million words. English is the language with the most words, afaik.


that's coz we steal everyones' words. :D



> no apparently the word is 'web 2.0' wtf


hurr.

i thought that word had been around ages.

O_o


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## Minish (Jun 11, 2009)

*Re: ‘Slumdog’ may become English’s millionth word*



Ice the Frosty Cat said:


> ONM begs to differ.


Holy crap, I was just reading that about ten minutes ago. XD

Yeah, it would be much better if it was noob anyway. I'm surprised it's not an official word already, actually... and I've never heard slumdog being used outside Slumdog Millionaire.


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## Dewgong (Jun 11, 2009)

*Re: ‘Slumdog’ may become English’s millionth word*

me neither. 

i don't particularly like the word noob but if you say it everybody knows what it means. wtf slumdog nobody says that outside of the movie.


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## Shiny Grimer (Jun 11, 2009)

*Re: ‘Slumdog’ may become English’s millionth word*

Slumdog would be a stupid millionth word anyway since it's pretty derogative. Imagine having 'spic' or 'nigger' be our millionth word. Yeah, not a nice thing to celebrate, imo.

Also, imo Web 2.0 doesn't deserve to be a word. It's just ... Web + 2.0.
We should start ressurecting old words. I'm all for bringing "ye" back as second-person plural. Maybe we could 'officially' adopt the Spivak pronouns. Oh, and think of all the other neat words we could have from the olden days...


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## Jetx (Jun 11, 2009)

*Re: ‘Slumdog’ may become English’s millionth word*

I think "nigger" and "slumdog" are on slightly different levels as far as derogatory words go... :P


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## Shiny Grimer (Jun 11, 2009)

*Re: ‘Slumdog’ may become English’s millionth word*



Jetx said:


> I think "nigger" and "slumdog" are on slightly different levels as far as derogatory words go... :P


Perhaps slumdog doesn't have the years of oppresion and such behind it, but it's still a pretty derogatory word. I couldn't think of another word that people would react strongly too (a bunch of people near where I live don't know what a 'spic' is, which is good I guess because 'spic' is a really lame word).


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## opaltiger (Jun 11, 2009)

*Re: ‘Slumdog’ may become English’s millionth word*



> Slumdog would be a stupid millionth word anyway since it's pretty derogative.


What has this got to do with anything? Setting aside the futility of counting words in a language, if a word is the millionth, it is, and that's that. It doesn't make it special in any way, so why would you care if it's derogative?


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## Shiny Grimer (Jun 12, 2009)

*Re: ‘Slumdog’ may become English’s millionth word*



opaltiger said:


> What has this got to do with anything? Setting aside the futility of counting words in a language, if a word is the millionth, it is, and that's that. It doesn't make it special in any way, so why would you care if it's derogative?


I don't know. It just seems rather sad that this word which it seems many people are celebrating has to have such a derogatory meaning. It seems like a testament to the fact that we keep on coming up with even more ways to insult people. It's not so much that it's the millionth (though I doubt that it is, and it's probably impossible to know what the millionth word actually is).


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## Zhorken (Jun 12, 2009)

*Re: ‘Slumdog’ may become English’s millionth word*

"Web 2.0" is a stupid, stupid, meaningless buzzphrase.


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## Dewgong (Jun 12, 2009)

*Re: ‘Slumdog’ may become English’s millionth word*

what does web 2.0 even mean


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## Aethelstan (Jun 12, 2009)

*Re: ‘Slumdog’ may become English’s millionth word*



Dewgong said:


> me neither.
> 
> i don't particularly like the word noob but if you say it everybody knows what it means. wtf slumdog nobody says that outside of the movie.


It doesn't really matter if nobody uses the word. Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis is a real English word (the longest English word it's definition being a kind of lung disease), but no one uses it. Heck, if you go through a dictionary, you'll probably find lots of words nobody ever uses, but they're there, and they're real words. This makes me wonder if people complained about the word "ketchup" when it became a real word.


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## Zoltea (Jun 14, 2009)

*Re: ‘Slumdog’ may become English’s millionth word*

English has a million words?!
:(


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## BynineB (Jun 14, 2009)

*Re: ‘Slumdog’ may become English’s millionth word*

Upon reading this thread, I died a little bit inside.

EDIT: Caterpiecaterpieyeaaaah.


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